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Miller 211 & series 100 Spool gun what a POS!

02-15-2012, 09:19 PM

Sorry for the title but I am so frustrated with Miller right now!

A little back ground of myself and my equipment.

I have been in the fab business now 36 years, ran just about ever machine made, stick, mig and tig. This year I got a very nice contract to build some components for our military and decided it was time to upgrade all of my welders and plasma cutter.

Now then, I have fought the 350P now as long as I can and it was returned to Airgas for repair, one day it runs as bad-ass as it gets and perfect as its advertised, the next day its a PITA, thats another story.

However the Miller Rep. did come out, did not have a clue what he was looking at and didn't even bring a hood with him! But was sure trying to sell me a new Miller welding jacket!

Its all good thought, I have a Brand new 211 that works like a dream on steel, so I will hook up the spool-gun that I have never taken out of the box and use it while my 350P is in the shop.

I am working on an aluminum project that is all 5086 tube and sheet. the tube 1/4" and the sheet 1/8", I take the spool gun out of the box, hook it up, try a test coupon, 1/8" sheet to 1/8" sheet in a flat fillet position, look at their little chart inside the door for a starting point, which is 5.5V/65w, **** near blew the tip off.

All is good though, its just a starting point... So after a little adjusting I have ended up with 5.5V/100w, AND THATS ON 1/8"material!!!

There is no way in **** MY machine could weld anything thicker.

I tried to weld a piece of 1/8" to the 1/4" tube, it just balled right up... It has more voltage but I'm tapped out on wire speed.

Here is what where I'm at with wire and gas:

100% pure Argon
DCEP
Gas is 22 CFH
.035 5356

I'm **** near ready to have my local Miller dealer come pick all this crap up and refund my money!

OK, so Rant over!

Those of you that have this combination were are you running at for this given material thickness?

Im no expert and ive only had my spoolgun for 2 days but i was right there with ya when i first started with 220v input, I tried it with the 110v input and it seemed to weld much much better. With that i feel it enought heat to weld 1/4''. I was getting the same balled up bird poo with the 220v plug. And i think you answered my question that i posted a day ago. I think you are right about the wire speed. Not enough wire can be pushed to brn that hot. Thanks Danno, Mike

I have been in the fab business now 36 years, ran just about ever machine made, stick, mig and tig. This year I got a very nice contract to build some components for our military and decided it was time to upgrade all of my welders and plasma cutter.

Now then, I have fought the 350P now as long as I can and it was returned to Airgas for repair, one day it runs as bad-ass as it gets and perfect as its advertised, the next day its a PITA, thats another story.

However the Miller Rep. did come out, did not have a clue what he was looking at and didn't even bring a hood with him! But was sure trying to sell me a new Miller welding jacket!

Its all good thought, I have a Brand new 211 that works like a dream on steel, so I will hook up the spool-gun that I have never taken out of the box and use it while my 350P is in the shop.

I am working on an aluminum project that is all 5086 tube and sheet. the tube 1/4" and the sheet 1/8", I take the spool gun out of the box, hook it up, try a test coupon, 1/8" sheet to 1/8" sheet in a flat fillet position, look at their little chart inside the door for a starting point, which is 5.5V/65w, **** near blew the tip off.

All is good though, its just a starting point... So after a little adjusting I have ended up with 5.5V/100w, AND THATS ON 1/8"material!!!

There is no way in **** MY machine could weld anything thicker.

I tried to weld a piece of 1/8" to the 1/4" tube, it just balled right up... It has more voltage but I'm tapped out on wire speed.

Here is what where I'm at with wire and gas:

100% pure Argon
DCEP
Gas is 22 CFH
.035 5356

I'm **** near ready to have my local Miller dealer come pick all this crap up and refund my money!

OK, so Rant over!

Those of you that have this combination were are you running at for this given material thickness?

Danno,
Unique Metalcraft Inc.

Comment

Running 030 in this will help some, aluminum can be fussy. Gun angle and stick out are critical, it can be easy to forget little things that are more forgiving with steel. I play with the speed small adjustments. For you guys having problems,,, yes,, something wrong for sure, this machine should weld the same on 240 as 120 with more top end. I will see if I can look up a couple pics.

Comment

So sorry to hear of your troubles. Thanks for bringing up your concerns and we're working to get you an answer to the issues you've experienced. Contact us directly via forum@millerwelds.com with more information about your location, contact information and issue specifics and we'll see what we can do to get this figured out.

Comment

I would use .045 minumum for 1/4" alum. U trying spray arc? Not for nothin but why a hobby machine for a veteran fab shop? I havenr used a 350p in 4 years but it worked well back then

Turbo,

I here what you are saying, I would use 3/64" wire, but they don't have liners or tips for the series 100 spoolgun.

Now then, why did I by the 211 for my shop? Well the answer is two fold, I needed a small back up machine because my 350P is set up with the XR and aluminum most of the time, and many times with the work I do, I need to tack stops to my layout table, or knock out a small little job, etc.

But most importantly I bought it for its portability and MVP, Its very easy to pack it up and take it to a job site regardless of the power available, and it works great to put in my toy hauler in case we break something in the dunes.

I just can help but think, I am missing something on this little combo, like a switch to syc the motor to the switch, I mean with the wire set @100, volts @ 5.5, the wire just sprays off the tip and crackles with the little spark thing going on, not a true spray like frying bacon.

Comment

I would be ticked off to. Thank God my Dynasty 350 hasn't give me any problems and if it did I would expect the repair person to at least have a clue what's wrong and if he didn't as in your case I would send him packing with my shoe still half up his tail! Miller charges top dollar for their machines and should always make sure the people that represent their company are top of the line techs with proper training for the call they are making! I'm aware no company can control everything but the situation you have described is unacceptable even for some Chinese import company! Miller shouldn't be having a customer that just dropped over 20K on new equipment sitting stranded and unable to fill his contracts on time!

Comment

Do I expect this little combo to lay down a pass like my 350P, NO, thats like comparing a Ferrari to a Hyundai, But what I do expect is it to lay down a pass equal to or maybe better than my old Miller 250 and a 30A gun did. Should have kept that set up...

I just spent the last hour trying different settings and even tried the 120 VAC that another board member suggested with no avail.

What I have noticed though is my wire range needs to be kept somewhere between 90-100 and my voltage range is 5-5.5, anything less it goes to globular transfer and anything more sends me to the supply shelf for another tip.

Comment

So sorry to hear of your troubles. Thanks for bringing up your concerns and we're working to get you an answer to the issues you've experienced. Contact us directly via forum@millerwelds.com with more information about your location, contact information and issue specifics and we'll see what we can do to get this figured out.

Comment

Danno, were you using flux core steel wire in the machine before you switched to the spool gun? If so, did you change your spoolgun to the correct electrode? Should be electrode positive. Maybe check yours too Rockscout. Hope thats it.

Comment

Danno, were you using flux core steel wire in the machine before you switched to the spool gun? If so, did you change your spoolgun to the correct electrode? Should be electrode positive. Maybe check yours too Rockscout. Hope thats it.

Comment

Well against my best judgment, I tried .030 5356 as per the Miller rep. set it to 5/70 for a starting point per their parameter chart and wasted another tip, reset the machine to 4/100 and I managed to save the tip but its still just globular transfer.

Set it to 5/100 and works better but it still is not right, a lot of spatter, sprays just off the end off the tip and barley past the nozzle, so I can not finish the job with this thing, so it is going back to the dealer.

My next option at this point is, I am going to put the mig gun back on, install a roll of .035 5356 and put a .045 tip in the mig gun and try and finish the last two or so feet thats left. Then start shopping for a rental so I can start my next assembly.